Hitherto, a video game (hereinafter sometimes simply referred to as “game”) has been widely used. A user enjoys a video game by using some kind of device (platform). There are various kinds of platforms for executing a video game, such as a game console, a general-purpose personal computer, a handheld game console, a cell phone, a smartphone, and a game machine installed in an amusement facility, for example, a video arcade.
All those platforms are included in the definition of the “game machine” as used in the invention of the subject application. However, representative examples of the game machine in the subject application are a game console and a general-purpose personal computer, which have a computer program for executing a video game installed therein.
Examples of the game console are PlayStation 4 (trademark) manufactured and distributed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. and Xbox One (trademark) manufactured and distributed by Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd. In those game machines, a dedicated genuine controller is usually attached or sold separately, and a user enjoys a game by usually using the genuine controller. Genuine controllers were once provided in various designs, but a dominant design thereof is now established to some extent. A dedicated genuine controller in the dominant design includes an oblong body to be grasped by both hands, whose left half includes a directional pad allowing, for example, digital input, and a stick input device allowing, for example, analog input based on a tilt direction thereof, and whose right half includes four push buttons and such a stick input device as described above.
When the genuine controller of a game console is used, the almost de facto standard causes a directional pad (in other cases, four push buttons arranged vertically and horizontally, for example) to give input in a vertical or horizontal direction, and a stick input device to give input in a direction that is not limited to the vertical or horizontal direction. Other types of input are implemented by, for example, a push button, but input in the vertical or horizontal direction and input in a direction that is not limited to the vertical or horizontal direction are considered to be substantially indispensable.
Meanwhile, a user of a game executed on a general-purpose personal computer has a wide variety of options of the controller.
Some users of a game executed on a general-purpose personal computer use a game machine controller dedicated for playing a game, which has inherited the dominant design of the genuine controller of a game console. Such a game machine controller can be connected to a personal computer as a matter of course, and, similarly to the case of using the genuine controller of a game console, allows input in the vertical or horizontal direction via a directional pad and allows input in a direction that is not limited to the vertical or horizontal direction via a stick input device.
On the other hand, when a game is executed on a general-purpose personal computer, other users give input by using a keyboard and a mouse, which are generally used at the time of, for example, input of characters, in combination on the general-purpose personal computer. In this case, in general, the keyboard (keys of “W”, “A”, “S”, and “D” of keyboard are assigned with inputs of up, left, down, and right in many cases, respectively, although this configuration may be changed depending on preference of user. Such input method is referred to as “WASD input” in subject application, which is commonly used term) is used to give input in the vertical or horizontal direction described above, which is given via the directional pad in the genuine controller of a game console, and the mouse is used to give input in a direction that is not limited to the vertical or horizontal direction described above, which is given via the stick input device in the genuine controller of a game console.